Bloghttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/feed/201103
enHow learning can make a differencehttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/03/how-learning-can-make-difference
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/03/how-learning-can-make-difference"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/Learning%20Blog%20Image.jpg?itok=akJq4H-C" width="400" height="267" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Seven months ago, we joined the team at Access as Project Management and Web Development Apprentices. We joined with little experience having come straight from finishing college. Over this time, we’ve learned a lot of valuable things about the industry and agency life, as well as the importance of learning new skills along the way. As apprentices, we both agree that it’s essential to remember that our main goal is to learn and to grow. At the end of our apprenticeship we want to be equipped with as much knowledge and experience as we can get! We’re surrounded by people with years and years of experience on subjects we want to know more about, so we have to make the most of this by asking questions and observing at all times.</p>
<h3>Why should you learn?</h3>
<p><strong>Better yourself as an individual -</strong> Learning encourages you to better yourself within your work life. Whether it’s learning a lesson about how not to do something, or physically working towards a qualification, learning can greatly benefit the quality of your life. Have you ever made a mistake and repeated it again? The chances are you probably didn’t – which shows that you’ve learned from your mistake.</p>
<p><strong>Broaden your knowledge -</strong> Why limit yourself to only knowing about one certain subject? If you want maximum gain out of your working life, then get to know other roles and functions of the business. It will only broaden your knowledge of how things work, which could benefit projects in future, as you will know exactly what’s involved in every part of the process. This particular step is something which we are working towards, as we want to get to know exactly how an agency works! We’ve had the chance to get involved with types of projects from digital to social, and also the documentation that’s involved within every process. It keeps us learning new things and also makes our roles at Access more fun and interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Keep things interesting -</strong> One of the great things about apprenticeships is that you are learning something completely new to you and getting involved with a range of different things. Finding ways of linking your job role into other aspects of the business; or working alongside different colleagues, opens you up to a different working day, therefore keeps it interesting. Work is something that we look forward to because of this, so it’s good to switch things up, learn and keep your job interesting.</p>
<h3>Our learning made a difference</h3>
<p><strong>Lauren:</strong> During my time at Access, I’ve found different ways to learn. You can learn online, from your colleagues or generally by experiencing different things within your working environment. One of the things I’ve learned is how different Project Management tools such as Slack and also Analytics tools such as Crazy Egg can benefit an agency or client.</p>
<p>A few months ago, I introduced Slack as a communication platform for our agency. I initially thought it would be something which would fade out; however, Slack has strengthened the communication between different team members. This is always important within agencies as we work to a lot of deadlines, therefore greater communication is always a more efficient way of getting tasks done. It was great for me as an apprentice, as it made me feel happy to think that I’d made a contribution to our agency. It’s definitely received some really positive feedback – especially from our Project Manager Ashley Johnson “Slack has enabled us to communicate quicker without disturbing the development team whilst their heads are in that rather complicated piece of code. On top of this we can easily share documents, code snippets and, of course, the Giphy integration!” Although this was just an initial suggestion, it was great to hear positive feedback about it and it was important for me to see how a simple tool can impact a business for all the right reasons! Slack has also proved to be enjoyable and I can honestly say there’s never a dull day in the office because of this.</p>
<p>Access has given me the opportunity to take whatever knowledge it may be that I have learned and put it into action. I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience and I am taking the time to learn as much as I can, as it will only benefit me more in the future! There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing you’re making a difference</p>
<p><strong>Keenan:</strong> In my opinion, there is no better way to learn than to experience it first-hand. However, this is not always the case in a real working environment as people’s schedules can be filled very quickly, therefore it’s good to be pro-active by asking for work and making sure that you're always contributing. It shows that you have completed the tasks set and are eager to move on to the next job. There is not one defining answer to what I have brought to Access; I feel I am more of a package deal. It could be a number of things that I bring to the agency…</p>
<ul><li>skin tight jeans</li>
<li>boyish charm</li>
<li>bin full of chicken carcasses accumulated over my lunch breaks (I eat a whole chicken for lunch... every lunch... every day)</li>
</ul><p>In parts, it’s all three of these things but most importantly I feel that I have a good work ethic and motivation to learn. In my time here at Access I have learned a lot and gained the trust of the other developers. I feel that I bring the ability to be given numerous types of work with the confidence from others to complete it successfully. In the future, I hope that I can bring even more to Access than I am able to now. Without the chance of an apprenticeship here at Access, I wouldn’t have learned half as much as I have and I’m going to continue to do my best.</p>
<p>Overall, we’re definitely finding our apprenticeships to be a positive experience. It’s really helped shape our understanding of different things and it’s even better to know that we’re always going to be learning. We definitely want to use the resources around us to help us progress further and we would really encourage others to embrace any learning experience they may have!</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/comment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comment</a>Mon, 23 Mar 2015 18:30:03 +0000Lauren Adams537 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukDrupal Camp London 2015http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/03/drupal-camp-london-2015
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/03/drupal-camp-london-2015"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/drupal-camp-london.jpg?itok=ORbeTUlt" width="400" height="240" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p class="rtecenter">The Access team geared up for a weekend of learning, talking and a lot of walking.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Screen%20Shot%202015-03-17%20at%2016.29.16.png" width="678" height="503" /></p>
<p class="rtecenter">Wide eyed and bushy tailed we headed over to city University of London for a day of talks, sausage sandwiches and well, more talks!</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Screen%20Shot%202015-03-17%20at%2016.30.09.png" style="width: 385px; height: 504px;" width="385" height="504" /></p>
<h3>Weekend Highlights:</h3>
<h4>Keynote: Dr.Sue Black</h4>
<p>To kick off proceedings was the inspirational <a href="https://twitter.com/dr_black">Dr. Sue Black</a> who shared her story of being a young single parent living in central London, earning a degree/ PhD and becoming a bonafide computer scientist, entrepreneur and social activist. Responsible for the <a href="http://www.savingbletchleypark.org/">‘save Bletchley Park’ campaign</a> thanks to everyone’s 140 character tweets (and a little help from Stephen Fry) as well as the equally awesome movement <a href="http://techmums.co/">#techmums</a>, encouraging mothers of all ages to get involved in the world of tech. It was a suitably good start to the weekend.</p>
<h4>Multilingual Drupal 8 - Michael Schmid (Scnitzel)</h4>
<p>Drupal 8 is on the horizon and it’s shaping up to be awesome. <a href="https://www.drupal.org/u/schnitzel">Michael Schmid</a> provided a great talk on what he and a team of 1000+ contributors have been beavering away on for the past 12 months. Some stand out takeaways were that multilingual is working now in the beta versions of D8 with the development of some awesome new modules and that English is no longer the hard-coded default language and can be removed entirely. There will be direct migration paths for both Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 so you can easily migrate your content to Drupal 8 without headaches. <a href="http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/">More about the multilingual initiative here</a>.</p>
<p>#teamscnitzel is looking for votes to become Director at Large so get involved: <a href="https://assoc.drupal.org/election/8/candidates" target="_blank">https://assoc.drupal.org/election/8/candidates</a></p>
<h4>VLAD - Local Development like a boss (Vagrant, Lamp, Ansible, Drupal)</h4>
<p>Dan Bohea headed up the 'VLAD - Local Development like a boss' talk. <a href="https://github.com/hashbangcode/vlad/">VLAD is an open source project created by Phil Norton</a> (aka Access Technical Lead) which in a nutshell (or should that be coffin) is a Vagrant &amp; Ansible based local development setup designed to rock your socks off and ensure that your developers are using the same environment to develop locally so no age old ‘it worked on my machine’. <a href="http://slides.com/danbohea/vlad-local-development-like-a-boss-1/embed" target="_blank">View the slides from the session</a>.</p>
<p>We polished the day off (and night for that matter) with a selfish helping of noodles and Camden Pale Ale at the Slaughtered Lamb for the Drupal Camp London Social.</p>
<p>The Sunday was half a day of sessions to make room for Drupal 8 sprints but there was room for an <strong>overview of Platform.sh by Robert Douglass </strong>from Commerce Guys, an interesting talk on <strong>‘A new tool for Measuring performance in Drupal 8’ from Luca Lusso</strong> and an insightful talk on <strong>Empathy Maps by Kubair Shirazee.</strong> Rounded off the weekend very nicely.</p>
<p>See you next year DCLondon!</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/code" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Code</a>Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:30:38 +0000Ashley Johnson536 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukWhat does Image 'resolution' actually mean?http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/03/what-does-image-resolution-actually-mean
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/03/what-does-image-resolution-actually-mean"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/phillcover_0.jpg?itok=GW4iUKOn" width="400" height="236" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h3><strong>Understanding the relationship between file size, pixel dimension, resolution and ‘quality’</strong></h3>
<p>People often think that the quality of an image is determined by its resolution; there is an assumption that because something is 300dpi then it will be suitable for print. This is incorrect. </p>
<p>Resolution has nothing to do with quality. ‘Quality’ is dependent on many things; how good the photographer is, what size the original image was captured at and how the image has been saved. Typically images are saved in the jpeg format. Jpeg is a ‘lossy’ form of compression, meaning it throws away image data each and every time it is saved as a jpeg. Once an image has been saved as a low quality jpeg it is effectively ruined, saving it again at a higher quality won’t help as the original data no longer exists. Some of the lowest ‘quality’ images I see are ones that have been saved over and over again as jpegs, each time degrading the image. The overwhelming cause of high quality images becoming ruined is jpeg compression. </p>
<p>Regardless of ‘quality’ an image is deemed suitable for print if when shown at 100% on the page, it has a resolution of at least 300dpi. However, that doesn’t mean that receiving a 72dpi image makes it unsuitable, it just depends on how large the pixel dimensions are. </p>
<p>Pixel dimensions are directly linked to the file size, while resolution is not. </p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/phill_0.jpg" style="width: 830px; height: 494px;" width="830" height="494" /></p>
<p>Note that in both cases the file size and pixel dimensions are the same. The difference is when the resolution goes higher the effective print size goes down. Image A would print exactly the same as image B if it was scaled down to 24% (based on 300dpi printing).</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/resize/Screen%20shot%202015-03-11%20at%2012.45.42-800x406.png" style="width: 800px; height: 406px;" width="800" height="406" /></p>
<p>Imagine a childrens’ ball pool filled with 500 balls, the balls representing the file size of the image. The smaller the pool (image size) the more tightly packed the balls will be, or in a larger pool the balls will be less dense.</p>
<p>There are different print methods that do not require 300dpi such as large format printing (large exhibition stands, outdoor banner advertising etc). The requirement for very large format can typically be as ‘low’ as 75dpi. Which is why artwork can be created at quarter size with 300dpi images which gives an effective print resolution of 75dpi.</p>
<p>This kind of resizing doesn’t actually alter the file; it’s just changing the relationship between resolution and print size (at that resolution). </p>
<p>If an image is too small for the print size at the desired resolution it can be ‘resampled’. Resampling is a term we use when we need to increase both the resolution and print size together, this will increase the pixel dimension. Although applications like Photoshop can work wonders, resampling good quality images (if the image is visually poor quality to start) will not make it look any better.</p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Wed, 11 Mar 2015 15:28:41 +0000Phill Watson535 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukDrupal Tip: Paragraphs Modulehttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/02/drupal-tip-paragraphs-module
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/02/drupal-tip-paragraphs-module"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/paragraphs_top_0.jpg?itok=viMZZWJz" width="400" height="312" alt="Produce complex layouts from Paragraph building blocks in Drupal" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h3>Completely rethink how your editors produce complex and visually rich marketing pages in Drupal with my new favourite module: Paragraphs.</h3>
<p>The <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/paragraphs">Paragraphs module</a> is billed as giving content editors more power to design awesome web pages:</p>
<blockquote><p>Instead of putting all their content in one WYSIWYG body field including images and videos, end-users can now choose on-the-fly between pre-defined Paragraph Types independent from one another. Paragraph Types can be anything you want from a simple text block or image to a complex and configurable slideshow.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each 'paragraph type' contains one or more fields of any type and is designed to hold a chunk of the overall page content. The editor user can select which Paragraph Types they want to add to the page and decide the ordering using drag-and-drop sorting.</p>
<p>An example page layout might flow like this:</p>
<ul><li><em><strong>Headline Splash</strong></em>
<ul><li>Text field</li>
<li>Background image field</li>
</ul></li>
<li><em><strong>One-Column Text</strong></em>
<ul><li>WYSIWYG field</li>
</ul></li>
<li><em><strong>Photo Grid</strong></em>
<ul><li>Image field with unlimited items</li>
</ul></li>
<li><em><strong>Two-Column Text</strong></em>
<ul><li>2 x WYSIWYG fields</li>
</ul></li>
<li><em><strong>Embedded YouTube Video</strong></em>
<ul><li>Video embed field</li>
</ul></li>
<li><em><strong>Blockquote</strong></em>
<ul><li>​WYSIWYG field</li>
<li>Quote author text field</li>
</ul></li>
<li><strong><em>Related Products</em></strong>
<ul><li>Node reference field with max 4 items</li>
</ul></li>
</ul><h3>Benefits for the content editor</h3>
<p>The content editor is empowered to create visually appealing pages using a range of repeatable content patterns (as defined by they administrator). Where required, it is remarkably simple to create complex nested markup structures using the clean interface. We feel confident in this approach because we've had some great feedback from end-users.</p>
<p><img alt="An empty paragraph field" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_content_creation_1.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 170px;" width="700" height="170" /></p>
<p><img alt="A paragraph field during content creation" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_content_creation_2.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 1401px;" width="700" height="1401" /></p>
<h3>Benefits for the site builder</h3>
<p>The general concept is very similar to that offered by the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/field_collection">Field Collection module</a> but with the fantastic bonus that you can mix up different Paragraph Types (a.k.a. Paragraph Bundles) in a single content type. You might also consider Paragraphs as a replacement for <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/inline_entity_form">Inline Entity Form</a> is some cases. The Paragraph Types that are available to the editor is determined through configuration on a per-content type basis.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, any core or contributed field widget should work inside a paragraph bundle. You can also use <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/field_group">field groups</a> though some of these don't render very well inside the drag-and-drop interface so use with caution. Each Paragraph Type has its own 'manage display' tab and is compatible with view modes.</p>
<p><img alt="Manage the fields available per paragraph bundle" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_setup_1.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 459px;" width="700" height="459" /></p>
<p><img alt="The field settings for a paragraph field" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_setup_2.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 1152px;" width="700" height="1152" /></p>
<p>The individual paragraphs created and 'attached' to nodes are supported by Views so there are some interesting possibilities there. Note that these paragraphs don't have their own URL though, they're just lumps of field data and ultimately link back to their parent node.</p>
<p>Other use cases: accordion groups, tabbed content, product data, slideshows, tabular data, mega-long scrolling pages. Basically use Paragraphs anywhere you want the ability to repeat a bunch of fields x-number of times in a single node.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/features">Features</a> support!</p>
<h3>Benefits for the themer</h3>
<p>The makers of Paragraphs baked in some sensible template suggestions to make life easier for the themer. Each Paragraph Type is individually templated (like a node is) and there is a template for group as a whole so you can add your own custom wrapper elements. Combine all this with some custom field templates and you can produce some very sophisticated markup.</p>
<p><img alt="Some example template markup from paragraphs-item--quote.tpl.php" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_bookseller_code.png" style="width: 700px; height: 379px;" width="700" height="379" /></p>
<p class="image-caption rtecenter"><em>Some example template markup from paragraphs-item--quote.tpl.php</em></p>
<p>Useful template suggestions:-</p>
<ul><li><strong>paragraphs-items.tpl.php</strong></li>
<li><strong>paragraphs-items--<em>field-paragraph-field</em>.tpl.php</strong></li>
<li><strong>paragraphs-item.tpl.php</strong></li>
<li><strong>paragraphs-item--<em>paragraph-type</em>.tpl.php</strong></li>
<li>
<p><strong>paragraphs-item--<em>paragraph-type</em>--<em>view-mode</em>.tpl.php</strong></p>
</li>
</ul><p>​Not tested, but I suppose you could use <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/ds">Display Suite</a> or similar for doing the individual field layouts if you are template phobic.</p>
<h3>A real world example</h3>
<p>We developed this approach on a recent upgrade to <strong>The Bookseller</strong> website. We produced a multi-purpose content type based on paragraphs, that the editor could use to hold information about conferences and events. The paragraph elements include WYSIWYG, image grids with overlays, embedded video, accordion groups, background images, headlines etc. The Bookseller team have been able to curate these conference micro sites with practically no administrator involvement.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/bookseller-industry-awards/2015">Take a look at the results</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/bookseller-industry-awards/2015/judges"><img alt="Example front end use case of Paragraphs Drupal module" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_bookseller_awards_1.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 481px;" width="700" height="481" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/bookseller-industry-awards/2015/judges"><img alt="Example front end use case of Paragraphs Drupal module" src="/sites/default/files/paragraphs_bookseller_awards_2.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 481px;" width="700" height="481" /></a></p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/code" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Code</a>Fri, 27 Feb 2015 09:00:00 +0000Paul Gregory534 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukImproving (Drupal) website performance and security with Cloudflarehttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/02/improving-drupal-website-performance-and-security-cloudflare
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/02/improving-drupal-website-performance-and-security-cloudflare"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/Cloudflare-Drupal.jpg?itok=vqO6EEq4" width="400" height="225" alt="Improving Drupal website performance and security with Cloudflare" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Your website needs to be fast and efficient; fast for your end users to ensure they have a good experience and don’t leave prematurely, fast for the admins so they can add content quickly, fast for Google so it rewards you with a decent quality score and therefore improved SEO ranking. OK, agreed, a fast website is a good thing all round, but there are a few major areas that may get in the way of you achieving this.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:30:55 +0000Mark Hope533 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk4 Questions every soon-to-be graduate should be asking themselves NOW!http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/02/4-questions-every-soon-be-graduate-should-be-asking
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/02/4-questions-every-soon-be-graduate-should-be-asking"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/4_Questions_blog_no_text.jpg?itok=eqea0xTL" width="400" height="263" alt="4 questions (creative marketing) graduates should be asking themselves" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>As we reach the middle of February, time is slowly creeping up on all of you third year university students. Whilst you might have enjoyed the last two and a half years, the onus is now on you to take the reins and get yourself noticed. The graduate marketplace is one of the most condensed, crowded and confusing job pools you’re likely to ever swim in. This blog aims at being your first pair of armbands, giving you the confidence to tread water on your own and, in time, show yourself to be a strong swimmer.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/comment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comment</a>Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:34:00 +0000Rob Goodswen532 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk10 APIs making our clients' lives easier in 2015!http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/02/10-api-making-customer-lives-easier
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/02/10-api-making-customer-lives-easier"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/Api-Option4.jpg?itok=DBlyjf1d" width="400" height="233" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>An Application Programming Interface (or API), allows different software (AKA, an application) to exchange data/information simply and seamlessly, opening up the opportunities for thousands of applications to become more useful and powerful - by making them work together.</p>
<p>We use these every day of our lives without actually realising. Perhaps one of the simplest to use/understand is the twitter API – developed by Twitter to allow integration with multiple platforms. It works by allowing requests for data from Twitter to be passed to the developer's application in the right format and design to deliver a seamless user experience. It gets even more complicated when you create a two-way API so that data can be requested and passed in both directions. But in doing so the potential to extend and utilise applications in interesting and useful ways is almost endless.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:57:47 +0000Simon Landi530 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukHow to work more confidently as an apprenticehttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/01/how-work-more-confidently-creative-pioneer-apprentice
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/01/how-work-more-confidently-creative-pioneer-apprentice"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/laurenBlog.jpg?itok=RC8OU59e" width="400" height="240" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A few months ago, I entered a completely new job as part of the <a href="http://www.creativepioneers.co.uk/">Creative Pioneers</a> apprenticeship scheme. The scheme offers young people aged 16-22 a chance to work, learn and earn in creative and digital agencies who are involved with the IPA.</p>
<p>It was completely different from anything I had ever done before, so naturally I was worried about coming into an environment full of experts. After 5 months I feel like I’ve grown more confident in what I do in my day-to-day working life, therefore, I thought I’d share some tips on how you can become a bit more confident in work – no matter how much experience you have!</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/comment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comment</a>Thu, 22 Jan 2015 11:21:53 +0000Lauren Adams528 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukLive Chat - Better than the alternatives? http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/01/live-chat-better-alternatives
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/01/live-chat-better-alternatives"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/Option3.jpg?itok=QbYM1XrF" width="400" height="233" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Live Chat is an enhanced customer service support that is popping up on websites everywhere. Today’s consumers know what they want and know how to source what they want and this is forcing the hands of companies to innovate and adapt. Live Chat offers customers the ability that they once had, which is to chat to companies instantly and in real time without any hassle, delays and its completely free to use. Live Chat helps companies connect with their customers in an all new way, but what benefits does it bring to the table?</p>
<h3><strong>It’s Convenient and Effective</strong></h3>
<p>Live Chat can provide fast access to customers of your site, allowing them to engage with your team instantly to acquire that all important information they require. This reduces customers’ frustrations and increases their satisfaction ensuring a superior customer experience, improving your company’s satisfaction ratings with your Customer Services.</p>
<p><a href=". http://www.edigitalresearch.com/news/item/nid/151475278">A study was conducted by eDigital's Customer Service Benchmark</a> which surveyed 2,000 consumers on their experiences of various customer service channels and found that <strong>Live Chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73%, comparing that against email with 61% and 44% for phone.</strong></p>
<p>Frequent ecommerce and customer service users have gravitated to Live Chat and appreciate them for a number of reasons, time being the main factor.<a href="https://econsultancy.com/blog/10644-stats-do-consumers-appreciate-live-chat-on-websites"> Of those who prefer Live Chat, 46% agreed it is one of the most efficient communication methods and 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly.</a></p>
<p>In this day and age people are very tech savvy and use all means of communications and as a result are more prone to interact with others using the internet, through apps, social media, email and now more than ever Live Chat.</p>
<h3>Increase in sales through lead generation</h3>
<p>Generally among users in marketing forums and on blogs, Live Chat on a website will lead to improved sales figures.<a href=". https://econsultancy.com/blog/63867-consumers-prefer-live-chat-for-customer-service-stats"> A recent report</a> found that 31% of online shoppers from both the USA and the UK say they would be more likely to purchase after a Live Chat.</p>
<p>The reason is simple, it’s like walking into a shop having a helpful shop assistant there waiting to answer all your questions.</p>
<h3>Analytics: because you can never have too much data these days</h3>
<p>Most Live Chats on the market now will offer some analytics/insights into customers’ behaviour on your websites. This insight can help companies better understand who their customers are, when and where they need support. Depending on which Live Chat you use some integrate with major SaaS products such as, Salesforce and IM tools such as Adium, Pidgin, and imo.im for mobile devices which help companies target certain customers.</p>
<p>Like many good analytical applications, the Live Chats analytics are able to notice trends which will allow companies to create rules that target customers at the most important times. Building up the analytics within the Live Chat can be important as it can influence changes to improve your customer’s journey.</p>
<h3>The end is near</h3>
<p>We at Access see Live Chat as a great return on investment and has become a very good way of lead generation for many sites. So much so we have implemented an array of Live Chats for our clients. Each client differs with their requirements and we have advised on which suits them best for functionality and budget. Whether it is to assist with buying products, answering questions, feedback or to help engage with customers and to generate better quality leads.</p>
<p>We'd be more than happy to discuss your 'Live Chat' questions here at the office. Give us a call and ask away.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/comment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Comment</a>Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:56:15 +0000Mark Harding527 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk4 ways to get more from your marketing agency http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/01/4-ways-get-more-your-marketing-agency
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/01/4-ways-get-more-your-marketing-agency"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/happy_fingers.jpg?itok=NUSLxEGs" width="400" height="310" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>There are huge variations of how marketing managers use their agencies. For some we are partners, involved in marketing decisions at all levels and used throughout the year, for others we might just be just be brought in for a campaign concept or new website and only be involved two months of the year.</p>
<p>I have worked across a host of different levels of client involvement and it’s been my perception that clients have always been happiest with the work and gotten the most value when the agency has been involved at all levels of the process. The best work is based on mutual understanding of objectives based on a foundation of clear honest two-way communication. Even if you are only going to use an agency for a one-off project there are some simple things you can share to get the most value from your agency.</p>
<p><strong>Here are a few things you can share to get the most from your agency:</strong></p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:30:17 +0000Sam King521 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukTop Ten Web Topics for 2015http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2015/01/top-ten-web-topics-2015
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2015/01/top-ten-web-topics-2015"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/Blog_Image.jpg?itok=i_AYfJ68" width="400" height="249" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>2014 was a great year for the web and the people who work in the industry. The community as always has driven some of the big changes in 2014 improving the web industry. Responsive web design came on leaps and bounds, responsive images finally made some progress, web typography continued going strong with improved services and we boosted our productivity with new workflow tools. So with such a great year coming to an end I thought we'd have a look what to watch out for in the web world for 2015.</p>
<h3>1. Responsive Web Design</h3>
<p>Responsive web design had its best year in the industry in 2014 as people are beginning to get a better grasp on how to deal with not just cross browser anymore but cross devices. One of the best examples of how modern day web design can work is that of <a href="http://foodbank.bradfrostweb.com/timeline/">Brad Frost and co's</a> open redesign of the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, showing how designers and developers can work together and build something that will stand the test of time.</p>
<p>In 2015 I expect to see people expanding on what we consider possible with responsive web design and innovating in design. With a bigger emphasis on immersive experiences that provide a deeper experience with more scrolling less clicking, typography with more personality, imagery and video along with the development of material design.</p>
<h3>2. Responsive Images</h3>
<p>We already saw the first implementations of responsive images in the first browsers this year along with some great examples of <a href="http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-images-in-practice">how it can be used</a>. 2015 will be the year that the industry starts to implement this as a standard with cross browser support improving. Hopefully stopping the sad trend that website page weights are increasing <a href="http://www.stevesouders.com/blog/2013/04/05/page-weight-grows-24-year-over-year-not-44/">year on year</a>.</p>
<h3>3. Javascript</h3>
<p>The increasing popularity of one page web apps means new javascript frameworks such as <a href="https://angularjs.org/">AngularJS</a>, <a href="http://backbonejs.org/">Backbone.js</a> and <a href="http://facebook.github.io/react/">React</a> will only continue to grow in use. Javascript is popping up even more now thanks to the <a href="http://nodejs.org/">Node.js</a> and <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/">npm</a> and tools like <a href="http://yeoman.io/">Yeoman</a>, <a href="http://gruntjs.com/">Grunt</a>, <a href="http://bower.io/">Bower</a> and <a href="http://gulpjs.com/">Gulp</a> to name just a few.</p>
<p>It is true that Node.js had it's share of ups and <a href="https://medium.com/cool-code-pal/how-javascript-is-going-to-replace-node-js-33cc50bfe64c">downs</a> in the community in 2014 but it also proved that we can make real time web apps with some <a href="http://socket.io/demos/weplay/">interesting twists</a>. In 2015 javascript will be ever more important to front end developers and will be a skill in high demand with websites growing increasingly interactive and blurring the lines between native and web apps.</p>
<h3>4. Animation</h3>
<p>Amazing progress with Google's <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html">material design</a> which puts a great emphasis on the coupling of animation in response to a user's actions makes what might be considered a very plain visual design filled with personality and a <a href="http://material.cmiscm.com/">pleasure to experience</a>.</p>
<p>The continuation with interaction design and creating experiences that immerse the user with pleasant and useful animation as visual feedback will bring web design closer to completeness. Don't forget to follow the amazing <a href="https://twitter.com/rachelnabors">Rachel Nabors</a> to see what is <a href="http://codepen.io/rachelnabors/">capable in web animation</a>.</p>
<h3>5. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)</h3>
<p>Continued love and support for SVG is a certainty in 2015 with the great tools like <a href="http://snapsvg.io/">Snap.svg</a> and some great tutorials on how to use them with <a href="http://sarasoueidan.com/">Sara Soueidan</a>. As the landscape of the web continues to change with more and more devices in different <a href="https://www.android.com/wear/">shapes</a> and <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-6/">sizes</a> resolution independent imagery can only be possible with SVG.</p>
<p>Showing what's possible with advanced SVG techniques is <a href="http://tympanus.net/codrops/2014/12/15/elastic-svg-elements/">Codrops</a> with some amazing examples of them being used in transitional effects. Other uses include masks, <a href="http://codyhouse.co/gem/animate-svg-icons-with-css-and-snap/">animated icons</a> and much more.</p>
<p>Serving crisp, clean and lightweight imagery that scales with the browser is a must and with <a href="http://caniuse.com/#search=svg">browser support</a> at the best its ever been there's no reason not to start using it in designs for 2015.</p>
<h3>6. Design Workflow</h3>
<p>The way we build websites is changing massively thanks to the responsive and mobile first movements which has meant we've needed to adapt our design and development processes to cope with the new landscape. Hundreds of devices, screen sizes and capabilities means that websites need to be built with the idea that they can be viewed anywhere. No more pixel perfect layouts-the web has gone back to its fluid roots, adaptability is key.</p>
<p>As these added complexities begin to mount up it means that our old process of design doesn't work well anymore. Building scalable style systems that adopt modularity (a developer's best friend) makes designs more reliable across screens. <a href="http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-web-design/">Atomic design</a> is a great example of how to tackle this problem. Long standing favourites such as <a href="http://alistapart.com/article/creating-style-guides">style guides</a> and <a href="http://styletil.es/">style tiles</a> are becoming essentials in the workflow to ensure consistency and reliability throughout the design. <a href="http://patternlab.io/">Pattern Lab</a> is a great example of how these two things can be brought together.</p>
<p>In 2015 new <a href="http://css-tricks.com/design-systems-building-future/">design methodologies/systems</a> and existing ones will grow in support. Companies must continue to adapt their design workflow to be able to deliver a truly great responsive experience and these new techniques and tools will only help them on their way.</p>
<h3>7. Typography</h3>
<p>'Web Design is 95% Typography'. Read this and understand how important typography is to the web. It is a textual medium as well as visual.</p>
<p>In 2015 expect to see more custom fonts as designers gain the skills to create their own fonts! Adding more character to websites and giving some that personal feel. As browsers continue to improve how web fonts work so will the experience for users continue to better. The possiblity of WOFF 2.0 in the near future will mean improved performance for web fonts as well.</p>
<h3>8. Workflow Efficiency and Tools</h3>
<p>The year's 2013 and 2014 were when developers stepped up their game in creating websites faster and more efficiently with some <a href="http://addyosmani.com/blog/199-slides-on-front-end-tooling-workflows/">great tools</a> and automating their <a href="https://speakerdeck.com/addyosmani/automating-front-end-workflow">workflows</a>.</p>
<p>With such great work being adopted and supported by the community, 2015 should represent the year that everyone should be using them to at least some degree in order to stay effective and competitive. Developers hate to repeat themselves and product owners, managers and stake holders hate lengthy development time on projects so these revelations help ease the pain.</p>
<h3>9. CSS</h3>
<p>Thanks to big advancements in CSS, developers are able to deliver effects, styles, layouts and animations that were previously void on the web and could only be achieved through very hacky imagery and javascript. More native CSS features means that we can begin to design in the browser and create stuff like this!</p>
<p>The future of CSS in 2015 could bring many things but nothing is for certain. CSS blend modes, shapes, regions, flexbox, new selectors, variables, new media queries and animation are just some of the things on the horizon. CSS <a href="https://medium.com/@bennettfeely/css-blend-modes-could-be-the-next-big-thing-in-web-design-6b51bf53743a">blend modes</a> and <a href="http://alistapart.com/article/css-shapes-101">shapes</a> particularly interest me because they offer things that are currently almost impossible natively and are hard to try and replicate.</p>
<p>Another great article detailing the future CSS is <a href="https://twitter.com/tabatkins">Tab Atkins</a>, <a href="http://www.xanthir.com/talks/2014-12-09/">The Future of CSS</a>, give it a read.</p>
<h3>10. Video</h3>
<p>A picture is worth a thousand words, so what is a video worth then? <a href="http://caniuse.com/#feat=video">Support for the HTML5 video element</a> is as good as almost any modern feature on the web right now. So why do websites not use this more? Well in 2015 I believe this will start to change, websites like <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> have proved how effective a well put together product video can do for a business.</p>
<p>Websites such as <a href="http://www.rileyscycles.co.uk/">Riley's Cycles</a> and <a href="http://kabertech.com/">Kaber Technologies</a> show what can be done with video in terms of design to make a deeper more impactful first impression. It's possibly a trend but it's worth watching out for.</p>
<p><em>These are just some of the things to watch out for in the coming year and by no means is this a complete list. As it has always been in the world of web development and design, there are always surprises and sometimes we find solutions in places we never expected. There is only one certainty in the world of the web though... a bright future.</em></p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:59:13 +0000Liam Walsh520 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk8 Steps to take on a Creative Briefhttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/12/8-steps-take-creative-brief
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/12/8-steps-take-creative-brief"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/jackblog.gif?itok=sPNK_3cx" width="400" height="267" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Coming up with creative solutions is at the core of advertising. Every campaign started out as a small doodle, hidden amongst other doodles surrounded by a group of people brainstorming ideas to solve a brief.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be involved with the creative process behind an upcoming client pitch for Access. I’ve had plenty of experience in the past creating ideas to solve a brief but this was the first opportunity I had to sit round a table with professionals, tackling a brief that could open up more opportunities for the Agency, which I would like to share.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:08:26 +0000Jack Warman517 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk5 Ways to Tackle Demotivation http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/12/5-ways-tackle-demotivation
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/12/5-ways-tackle-demotivation"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/demotivatedcat1.jpg?itok=Wk6X9-LD" width="400" height="222" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Around this time last year, Access announced a charity partnership with 42nd Street, a Manchester based charity that supports young people under stress. Since then, as a company we’ve all gained a bit more knowledge of what people who struggle with stress related issues go through. Everyone is different, meaning we all deal with the strain of everyday life in different ways.</p>
<p>Last week I had one of those, can’t drag yourself out of bed, not wanting to iron your clothes kind of weeks. There were even a couple of days when I didn’t do my hair. I wasn’t feeling ill, nothing terrible had happened, I was just a bit glum. I’m not the first person to struggle with a bad week, we all have them. Realising I was a bit down, I reached out to some of my brilliant friends to ask what keeps them motivated and in writing this blog, with their help, I’m feeling a lot better.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Tue, 02 Dec 2014 10:39:03 +0000Rob Goodswen516 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk“We have brilliant creative, great ideas, we can do the job ……but have they bought into us as an agency?”http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/11/we-have-brilliant-creative-great-ideas-we-can-do-job-have-they-bought-us-agency
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/11/we-have-brilliant-creative-great-ideas-we-can-do-job-have-they-bought-us-agency"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/LaurenBlog.jpg?itok=LoTmKA52" width="400" height="214" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Pitching is tough. You may be one of those who enjoys the buzz, the pressure and competitive nature of the pitch situation but there’s no denying its hard work, time consuming and forces you to examine and over-think every facet of what makes you good as an agency.</p>
<h3>Venturing into the unknown</h3>
<p>When we don’t know the team and personalities that we’re pitching to in a tense, silent and unfamiliar board room, how do we appear to be capable of being everything to everyone to cover all bases but at the same time promise to deliver a tailored service perfectly suited to their needs?</p>
<p>This isn’t intended to be a ‘how to win a pitch’ blog but more a discussion around how the ‘right fit’ with a potential client happens on a number of levels.</p>
<p>In my opinion it boils down to:</p>
<ul><li>Have we demonstrated that we can do what you need us to do?</li>
<li>Do we understand you as a business and what you are trying to achieve?</li>
<li>Is the pricing structure right?</li>
</ul><p>Then the crucial……</p>
<ul><li>Can we work together?</li>
</ul><p>This is the all-important chemistry and personality fit which everyone believes is the element beyond an agency’s control. If it’s there it’s there, if it’s not – then unlucky. However, my belief is that all too often we spend more time talking through our credentials, relevant experience and creative ideas, that we fail to give enough time saying the things that show more of ‘us’ as people and reassures the potential client that we are a company that they could see themselves actually working with on a day to day basis.</p>
<h3>Help the ‘chemistry’ along (on both sides of the table)</h3>
<p>Why should they believe what we’re saying? Have we backed up all our points? Case studies of work we’ve done for clients are great but talking about how we successfully communicate and work with other client teams on a day to day basis shows a new level of detail that a potential client can relate to and can see it working for them. Plus it reveals more of your personality and your way of working and in my experience marketing managers respond well to that.</p>
<p>Do we sound genuine, enthusiastic and passionate about helping them reach their goals? Do we have natural team synergy? This can’t be faked. We’re doing the pitch because we believe in the project – so that has to come across. Select the right people for the pitch and involve them from the beginning and each should present their own part with the aim of the team spirit and sense of collaboration shining through.</p>
<h3>Don’t just imply it – say it and recognise the value of great customer service</h3>
<p>Have we taken the time to convince our audience that our customer service and the time we will invest in them WILL be value for money? Have we mentioned that we’ll think, be proactive and make their lives easier….and can prove it with case studies of how we already do it for other people? Have we convinced them that we will be switched on and pleasant people at the end of the phone when they call? We all automatically think – yes of course! we’ve said that and <em>implied </em>all that throughout the course of our presentation - we are a great marketing agency and we do all those things….but in reality oh so often we don’t actually give this part the air time it deserves in a pitch situation.</p>
<p>Yes clients love seeing the creative response to a brief and it is an important factor when selecting an agency but often we neglect the fact that the account management and the ‘we WILL work well with your team’ element could actually be the deal breaker. Good client service and process should not be assumed as a given and should be built in as a fundamental part of the pitch. Often clients who have little experience of working with agencies don’t appreciate exactly what a help you could be on a daily basis. I believe taking the time to address all those points around account management and customer service is as important as the creative, brand messaging and financials. I’m learning from our successes that many of our clients new and old think that too.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Tue, 25 Nov 2014 10:43:41 +0000Lauren Jackson515 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukThe Triforce of Front End Developmenthttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/11/triforce-front-end-development
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/11/triforce-front-end-development"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/the-web-triforce.png?itok=F87z4mEe" width="400" height="161" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>This article aims at introducing some of the current and most popular tools being adopted by front end developers for building websites and applications for the modern web. We will briefly look at web development years ago and how times have changed, undoubtedly for the better. Moving onto looking at the Yeoman, Grunt and Bower tools and examples of how you can use them to improve your workflow efficiency and quality.</p>
<h3>Web Development: The Early Days</h3>
<p>A lot of the best web developers in the world started off in an era that was witnessing the birth of the internet. The likes of Jeffery Zeldman, Andy Clarke, Eric Meyer and Ethan Marcotte, people who are a great influence in the industry and also helped make the web what it is today. I remember reading the blogs and article's that these legends produced and have read about the struggles that early web development endured. Long winded and unmanageable CSS files, bloated and unmanageable HTML code and inconsistent Javascript code... that was also unmanageable.</p>
<p>I was born during this time but did not experience the internet till much later in its lifespan in the late 2000's. Joining at a age where the web was going through a transition of which it had never been through before. Responsive web design, preprocessors, code standards, CSS3 and HTML5, these were my first experiences with web development.</p>
<p>The new generation of front enders will face challenges we can't begin to guess but for now this generation must tackle a world wide web that demands bigger better things and with businesses cutting to the bone on budgets, less time to do so! Fear not for the people have taken up the challenge! The web community is maturing every day and a revolution of open source sharing means new tools are emerging to help with the crisis and speed up development time and quality.</p>
<h3>The Revolution</h3>
<p>The new revolution of modern web design has brought forth new wonders for the web along with it's challenges and three tools have arisen to help make developers lives better (and to prevent early stress driven graves). These tools include:</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://yeoman.io/">Yeoman</a> - A project scaffolding tool</li>
<li><a href="http://gruntjs.com/">Grunt</a> - An automation workflow tool</li>
<li><a href="http://bower.io/">Bower</a> - A package manager tool</li>
</ul><p>All of these tools are command line/terminal applications that require NPM and Node.js. Each of these tools tackle a different specific problem but work extremely well together. In Fact Yeoman was designed to work with Grunt and Bower in it's conception. So let's look at a common use case for when you might use these tools.</p>
<p>For The Bookseller company we were asked to create multiple micro-sites such as the Futurebook Conference, Marketing and Publicity and the Children's Conference sites. Each of these sites needed creating with minimal development time and a quick turnaround. None of these sites needed a CMS or anything complicated or dynamic they were purely informational meaning we designed them as simple flat HTML sites.</p>
<p>The first thing a developer might do for a project to go fetch the HTML5 Boilerplate and paste that into an index.html file, go fetch Normalize and paste that into a CSS file or a SASS partial, go fetch Modernizr, jQuery and so on. Tiring stuff right? Not anymore.</p>
<h3>Yeoman</h3>
<p>Yeoman serves as a way to quickly scaffold and put together a website folder structure, pull in dependencies, setup Grunt and Bower files meaning you can be developing a website in minutes! Be rid of the tedious file fetching and web traversing for snippets of code for a basic setup.</p>
<p>For The Bookseller micro-sites we used the official <a href="https://github.com/yeoman/generator-webapp">Webapp generator</a> developed by the amazing people behind Yeoman itself! The generator comes with a lot of amazing tools built in for Grunt including SASS and Compass compilation, Autoprefixr, Javascript and Coffeescript concatenation and minification amongst other things. The generator also incorporates Bootstrap and Modernizr as optionals for Bower and even hooks them up! For example simple type these two commands to have a Webapp generator site setup.</p>
<p><span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">npm install -g generator-webapp yo webapp</code></span></p>
<p>All of this saves time and in turn saves money. The community has taken no time at all in creating they're own generators. Some of my favourite's include <a href="https://github.com/individual11/generator-socketio">Socketio</a>, <a href="https://github.com/DaftMonk/generator-angular-fullstack">Angular Fullstack</a> and <a href="https://github.com/north/generator-style-prototype">Style Prototype</a>. All of which add to a bigger base of generators to choose from for the right situation.</p>
<h3>Grunt</h3>
<p>So with the power of Yeoman we now have a way of getting a project up and running in a consistent and quick way we should look at Grunt! Grunt is a automation tool, think of any menial and boring repetitive task you might go through when developing a website and there is probably a Grunt module that eases the pain.</p>
<p>Common and well known example of repetitive tasks include, compiling SASS/Compass/Coffeescript, minifying of JS and CSS (even as far as HTML!), concatenating files, image optimisation, reloading the browser window and installing third party libraries. Grunt has modules that automate all of these tasks. More uncommon examples and personal favourite modules include <a href="https://github.com/gleero/grunt-favicons">Favicons</a>, <a href="https://github.com/robwierzbowski/grunt-build-control">Build Control</a>, <a href="https://github.com/addyosmani/grunt-uncss">Uncss</a>, <a href="https://github.com/chuckmo/grunt-ssh">SSH</a>, <a href="https://github.com/jrcryer/grunt-pagespeed">Google PageSpeed</a>, <a href="https://github.com/Ferrari/grunt-autoshot">Autoshot</a> and <a href="https://github.com/robwierzbowski/grunt-build-control">Build Control</a>. For a list of more grunt modules visit the <a href="http://gruntjs.com/plugins">Grunt official website</a>.</p>
<p>Simply supply the command and away you go!</p>
<p><span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">grunt serve // For the webapp will setup a local server with livereload and watch</code></span> <span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">grunt build // Creates a dist folder will all production level assets</code></span></p>
<p>Again this saves valuable development time that would otherwise be spent getting assets ready for production level quality with the potential for human error. These little tasks we do every day add up to a lot of time.</p>
<h3>Bower</h3>
<p>Amazing stuff eh? Well now we have everything we could ever need to make our project happen, not quite. It often happens that great libraries such as <a href="http://modernizr.com/">Modernizr</a>, <a href="http://jquery.com/">jQuery</a>, <a href="http://daneden.github.io/animate.css/">Animate.css</a> and <a href="http://necolas.github.io/normalize.css/">Normalize.css</a> are missing! Such valuable libraries would go a long way to speeding up and raising the quality of our front end! Never fear, remember our copy paste and manual working days are over. A little birdy told me he can fetch these things for me!</p>
<p>Bower is the front end equivalent of PHP's Composer, Ruby's RubyGems and Node's NPM. All other major programming languages have a package manager of some kind for dealing with integrating and updating third-party packages, something that front end developers have been sorely lacking. No more need to go out and fetch the latest code or wondering which library you also might need included and no more out dating of dependencies.</p>
<p>With one command we can get any popular front end third party library using</p>
<p><span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">bower install --save jquery</code></span></p>
<p>What a life saver that is! There is even a Grunt module that comes with the Yeoman Webapp that installs said CSS/JS library directly into your code called Wiredep. This module will turn this:</p>
<p><span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">&lt;!-- bower:js --&gt; &lt;!-- endbower --&gt; </code></span></p>
<p>After running this:</p>
<p><span class="geshifilter"><code class="text geshifilter-text">bower install jquery --save</code></span></p>
<p>Into this!</p>
<p><div class="geshifilter"><table class="text geshifilter-text" style="font-family:monospace;"><tbody><tr class="li1"><td style="width:1px;text-align:right;margin:0;padding:0 2px;vertical-align:top;"><pre style="font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal">1
2
</pre></td><td style="font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal"><pre style="font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal">&lt;!-- bower:js --&gt; &lt;script src=&quot;bower_components/jquery/jquery.js&quot;&gt;
&lt;/script&gt; &lt;!-- endbower --&gt; </pre></td></tr></tbody></table></div></p>
<p>Magic ;D</p>
<h3>The Future</h3>
<p>So there we have a project that fit for the modern web! So many great tools to save time and improve quality of front end production. So what is the future then? If we have these tools now what's the next step?</p>
<p>The year 2013 was the year these tools became known and started to grow interest. 2014 is the year that these tools we really becoming almost industry standards. The popularity of these tools is clear to see, offering much value in exchange for a small learning curve they fulfill a want and need that people may not have realised.</p>
<p>I believe that as the community continues to embrace these tools we will see greater things come forth. To all those who helped made these great things happen, thank you.</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/code" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Code</a>Tue, 25 Nov 2014 10:35:19 +0000Liam Walsh514 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukA 'Creative Pioneers' first project management experiencehttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/11/managing-my-first-project-access
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/11/managing-my-first-project-access"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/bikeride%20BLOG%20POST%20IMAGE.jpg?itok=j7IQ_oxo" width="400" height="133" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>On Thursday 6th November, Access and friends participated in a virtual cycle from Manchester to Paris in aid of the charity <a href="http://42ndstreet.org.uk">42nd Street</a>, a charity dedicated to supporting the emotional wellbeing of young people. Having started a Project Management apprenticeship at Access in September, this was my first opportunity to manage a project from start to finish.</em></p>
<h3>Tackling the project</h3>
<p>As it was my first ever project with no experience behind me at all, I was very nervous. Especially as I only had 3 weeks to organise everything and around 30 people to organise! However, everyone at Access was very supportive and provided me with some guidance along the way. I decided that, in order to tackle this project efficiently, I would need a to-do list. There were t-shirt orders, time slots, room set- up, social media, technology and also participants to organise within a short space of time, so I knew I had to get cracking! This included lots of co-ordinating with our Managing Director Simon Landi and Social Media Executive, Rob Goodswen who were the main ‘go-to’ people for this project. Simon knew exactly what outcome he wanted (raise lots of money!) and Rob had great ideas surrounding the Social Media aspect. This made it really easy to liaise with them and prioritise aspects important to the project!</p>
<p>We had some great creative ideas flowing through the office about how we could make the event as fun and interesting as possible, which made it easier to pull the best ideas out and put them into practice! One of these was to put together a webpage – via a link on the Access website – which was specific to the cycle event. After many meetings with the creator (Liam Walsh-our Front End Developer), directors, creatives (Adam and Sarah) and other members of Access, the content was agreed. It would also contain a Twitter feed so people could follow us throughout the cycle and a permanent donate button. This was included, as our main objective throughout was to raise as much money for 42nd Street as possible!</p>
<p>As well as this, each participant would have their own ‘Top Trump’ card created, which was a fun element as I gave everyone at Access the opportunity to rate each other in humorous categories such as ‘Sweat Factor!’ This was great fun and it really got everyone involved in the process, whether they were actually cycling or not.</p>
<h3>The good vs. the challenging</h3>
<p>The web page for the cycle was a great experience to get involved with, as it was a collaboration which I was very proud of. The amount of work that went into it really paid off (thank you Liam!), as it was everything we wanted it to be within the timescale we had given ourselves!</p>
<p>I would say that organising the t-shirts and cycle slots for everyone was one of the most time consuming elements of the project, as it required everyone’s involvement, and lots of planning, prompting and chasing! However, it did teach me to never give your staff free control over a Google Doc spreadsheet (unless you want a variety of fake names written in a spectrum of colours all over it)!</p>
<p>The best part was actually being involved with the whole process, as it was really good for me to see something coming together over a period of time and then finally witness the end result. The day was energetic and full of teamwork and support for each other – as well as a few very tired faces from pulling an all-nighter.</p>
<h3>Thoughts</h3>
<p>I am astounded by the amount of support Access and 42nd Street got from the event, raising, <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Access42">up to this point £1960</a> – nearly double what our original target was! Everyone worked really hard and it’s an event we’re all very proud of. On the whole, I’m really proud to have been a part of this cycle event, and it was such a good opportunity for me to show off some Project Management skills, all in the aid of a great cause! I’ve really learnt a lot about organisational skills and managing lots of busy people. I can’t wait for the next project!</p>
<p>Chris Jacob, Head of Service for 42nd Street had this to say following the event:<em> ‘It was a great atmosphere down at Access’ offices. Brilliantly organised, good fun and actually quite a challenge! Those bikes are not the most comfortable! 5 of us from 42nd Street took part and did a stint each but some of the staff at Access put us to shame as they were amazing! We really are hugely grateful for all the hard work and energy that went into the event – both the organising and taking part. Also a huge thanks to all those who have donated so far.’</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/111614016" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 10:41:50 +0000Lauren Adams510 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukHow an agency can stand out in an increasingly growing crowdhttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/10/how-we-stand-out-increasingly-growing-crowd
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/10/how-we-stand-out-increasingly-growing-crowd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/shutterstock_193036472_sharpen.jpg?itok=e8lr0-5M" width="400" height="267" alt="How an agency can stand out in an increasingly growing crowd" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Our basic job as marketeers is to help get our client’s products and services seen and remembered. That involves understanding our audience and ensuring whatever we create is seen in the right places, stays true to the brand, the message identifies a clear point of difference from competitors and is visually impactful.</p>
<p>When it comes to marketing ourselves as integrated agencies, applying that same treatment to our own offering isn’t always easy. How do we stand out when we know there are so many other agencies seeming to offer exactly the same thing at the same price and promising the same standard of service? I realise this is a well debated topic but it has been particularly relevant to me within my first year at Access where I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in a variety of new business pitches and seen the agency grow in confidence (as well as head count) whilst striving to define their point of difference.</p>
<h3>Analyse past successes to create more of the same</h3>
<p>We ask ourselves how are people finding us? What do companies need when they find Access? What were our recently acquired clients’ pain points and reasons for selecting us over their incumbent agency? Where do we excel, have proven expertise and available resource to provide quality service? Answering all these questions builds our case organically and has helped formulate some very successful pitch tenders in the last year.</p>
<h3>Identify your strengths &amp; capabilities, commit and run with them</h3>
<p>Being selective on which pitches we take on has been an important part of this process. Our experienced management team and solid financial grounding allows us to take opportunities that play to our strengths and turn down anything that’s not a good fit. This is so reassuring when working in a smaller agency. We know who we are and what we’re good at. We then have a chance of standing out and being remembered for all the right reasons when we KNOW we can do a good job. Going for work so far out of our comfort zone and skill set (however potentially lucrative and ‘different’ it may be) is demoralising for the team…..and a waste of precious time.</p>
<h3>Present a proven track record and have confident ambition</h3>
<p>Building up our in-house team of Drupal experts, taking on increasingly complex systems integrations and refining our own digital project management processes has provided a raft of successful projects and happy clients to create our point of difference. We’re confident talking about it, we know our stuff when questioned in pitches and know we can provide the expert support our clients need. We have testimonials, increasingly challenging case studies and tried and tested processes. We’re entering new markets &amp; industries via the digital route and nurturing the client relationships from there into other opportunities.</p>
<h3>Learn, observe, adapt and stay relevant</h3>
<p>I realise that what we see as our point of difference now and all the things that we feel make us stand out now won’t be so forever...maybe not even in 2 years’ time. We’ll have found new ways to respond to clients digital marketing needs and have new areas of expertise. That’s the fascinating thing about this industry, you can never get complacent, or stand still. We’re always learning and being forced to adapt - technology, client/agency dynamics and consumer behaviour dictates it. </p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/insight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Insight</a>Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:14:47 +0000Lauren Jackson509 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukAccess launches redesigned BAFTA websiteshttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/10/access-launches-redesigned-bafta-websites
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/10/access-launches-redesigned-bafta-websites"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/BAFTA_Mockup_Press.jpg?itok=UMvHg_no" width="400" height="267" alt="Access relaunch BAFTA websites on Drupal" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Access has launched redesigned websites for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).</p>
<p>The integrated digital marketing agency has rebuilt the global <a href="http://www.bafta.org/">BAFTA</a> site, including its sub-sites;<a href="http://ygd.bafta.org/"> BAFTA Young Game Designers</a>, <a href="http://awards.bafta.org/">BAFTA Awards</a> and <a href="http://www.bafta.org/195-piccadilly">BAFTA 195 Piccadilly.</a></p>
<p>Responsive client service and proven expertise in the Drupal content management system (CMS) were the main drivers behind BAFTA’s decision to appoint Access.</p>
<p>“This has been a major project for BAFTA and Access and we’re very proud of the results,” said Mark Hope, Digital Director for Access. “Together we’ve created a robust, future-proofed platform that will enable BAFTA to deliver its digital strategy more effectively. Creating a great experience for the expanding global audience and improving the online services for BAFTA members were key goals for us”.</p>
<p>The platform, built on the Drupal CMS, has been configured to streamline editorial workflow and enables BAFTA to be highly responsive to delivering news, events and other visual content. Cross-site promotion of content and unified site search across <a href="http://www.bafta.org/">bafta.org</a> and its sister sites provide greater efficiency for the editorial teams and will make content more ‘discoverable’ for end-users. A fully responsive design and social media integration, including social commenting, optimises the user experience across all devices making content easier to consume.</p>
<p>Each of BAFTA’s 6,500 members will now see personalised and timely content, underpinned by Access’s integration of Drupal with Salesforce, BAFTA’s customer relationship management (CRM) software. A login only section on <a href="http://www.bafta.org/">bafta.org</a> provides members access to exclusive content and features, including the ability to manage their subscriptions and connect with other members using the built-in messaging tools.</p>
<p>The agency has already managed the configuration of a scalable hosting solution, using<a href="http://www.rackspace.co.uk/cloud"> Rackspace Cloud</a>, to help BAFTA meet demand during its famous ceremonies. During the last major ceremony in May 2014, the Awards site successfully served over 20,000 users at peak with zero downtime during this crucial period.</p>
<p>Following early successes with the main web project, Access was invited to develop a new tone of voice and full content for the Academy’s prestigious private event hire business <a href="http://www.bafta.org/195-piccadilly">BAFTA 195 Piccadilly</a> in addition to working on a brand refresh and redesign of its <a href="http://www.bafta.org/">bafta.org</a> sub-site.</p>
<p>Post go-live, Access is working with BAFTA in a strategic digital marketing capacity in addition to providing on-going support and maintenance across the Academy’s sites.</p>
<p>Pippa Irvine, Digital Communications Manager for BAFTA, said: “"The launch of bafta.org marks the culmination of a huge digital renovation for BAFTA that will underpin our long-term audience focused strategy. Each of our websites has been upgraded and redesigned and we have vastly improved the online experience for our members by integrating the site with our central database. Access has delivered in both the technical and strategic elements of this vast project resulting in a website that befits the marque of excellence that BAFTA stands for."</p>
<p>A member of the Government backed GrowthAccelerator initiative, Access is currently enjoying double digit growth year on year and recently celebrated its <a href="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/08/happy-birthday-us">15th anniversary</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/BAFTA_Fullscreen_Shot.jpg" style="width: 830px; height: 1597px;" width="830" height="1597" /></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News</a>Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:46:34 +0000Mark Hope508 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk#AccessInterns: How we attained our ideal graduates!http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/10/accessinterns-how-we-attained-our-ideal-graduates
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/10/accessinterns-how-we-attained-our-ideal-graduates"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/accessinterns-blog-banner.jpg?itok=rv7xjp_b" width="400" height="133" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>Access has grown rapidly this year and we’ve had a surge of interest from graduates to match. A few months ago we set our sights on finding the best possible internship candidates whom we could take under our wing and give the best possible chance at a career in the creative industries – that’s when we came up with the #Access Interns campaign. Here’s how we did it.</em></p>
<p>For graduates leaving university it can be tough to gain entry into the creative industries. They’ve got a qualification, have a desire to work, but also have to be able to stand out from an ever increasing crowd. With so many graduates vying for the next Account Executive or Junior Designer position, internships are a great way to get some experience and help land that all important first job.</p>
<h3>Inception</h3>
<p>With any graduate enquiry form you’re always going to get a fair amount of interest from students looking for a route in the industry. Ours here at Access was no exception. We wanted to give everyone a fair shot and allow them the chance to shine beyond their CV. This is where the concept of our #AccessInterns campaign came from. We wanted to create a flexible brief that would allow applicants to demonstrate their strengths in their chosen field, while reproducing the pressure and excitement of pitching for a client.</p>
<h3>Reproducing a client pitch for our candidates</h3>
<p>Agencies are constantly pitted against one another to produce the right pitch to win the client. Using this logic we asked candidates to produce a presentation which sold Access to a potential client. This ‘pitch’ would form the basis of our opinion prior to interview. Candidates needed to gain some knowledge about Access and then convey it to us whilst showing us their personality. Ideally we were looking for a candidate to give us information we know a lot about but in a way in which it seemed new and interesting.</p>
<h3>Social media application</h3>
<p>We sent all of the interested parties from our data capture an email giving them details of how they could apply to be an intern. Rather than handing out the brief straight away we wanted to identify which of our initial applicants were fully prepared to immerse themselves in the application process.</p>
<p>In order to make our campaign a little different we incorporated a social media element. We set up a <a href="http://www.paywithatweet.com/">‘Pay with a Tweet’</a> system in which each candidate tweeted their interest in the campaign in order to download the brief. This not only gave us the opportunity to see who our entrants were, but helped to spread our campaign to others who may not have signed up on our graduate list.</p>
<p>The brief itself helped to further reduce the number of entrants. We asked candidates to produce a quality presentation, one that would require some hard work and research, all within a short time frame echoing agency turnaround times. Each entrant would be assessed depending on their skillset; Creative applicants being judged mainly on their presentation and AMs/Project managers on their understanding of the market/strategy. We received plenty of finished presentations and were then able to select a long list for telephone interview.</p>
<h3>Face to face pressure</h3>
<p>Our conversations with candidates proved to be a really insightful part of the process. Many of the applicants impressed us beyond their presentations with their verbal communication skills and professional approach. Those shortlisted following the phone conversations were then invited into the agency for a formal interview.</p>
<p>Over the course of two days we interviewed our selected eight candidates. Each had shown the required amount of application and enthusiasm to get them to this final stage. As with any face to face interview it ultimately becomes a choice of who is right for the agency.</p>
<h3>Welcome Jack and Sophie</h3>
<p><img alt="Jack and Sophie" src="/sites/default/files/jack-sophie-interns-blog.jpg" style="width: 830px; height: 481px;" width="830" height="481" /></p>
<p>Following this process, we are super happy to announce that Sophie Hall has joined us as an Account Executive and Jack Warman has joined our creative team. Sophie impressed us initially during her phone interview and then continued to display a real passion for digital marketing, specifically analytics. Her impressive university results (one Degree and TWO Masters) and her dedication to further her own learning, made us eager to see what she could bring to the agency.</p>
<p>Jack made us belly laugh with his pixelated recreations of some of the access team. It was a brave move to make up our very own Mark Hope as a fairy, but thats the kind of brash humour we appreciate here at Access. He did apologise to Mark on his first day but there was no need. Especially as you can see it for yourself now at the top of our social media feeds.</p>
<p>Both Jack and Sophie are settling in really well and are proving a real asset to the Access team – expect to hear more from them in the coming weeks!</p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News</a>Wed, 22 Oct 2014 09:07:32 +0000Rob Goodswen503 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.ukAccess appointed as digital support agency by Taxandhttp://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/blog/2014/10/access-appointed-digital-support-agency-taxand
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/2014/10/access-appointed-digital-support-agency-taxand"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/uploads/blog/taxand-screen.jpg?itok=aihiuTuq" width="400" height="233" alt="Taxand website" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Access has been appointed digital support agency by global tax advisory business Taxand.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.taxand.com">Taxand</a> is the world’s largest global organisation of tax advisors to multinational businesses with more than 400 partners and over 2000 advisors in nearly 50 countries.</p>
<p>Access will work alongside Taxand’s in-house design team to provide digital marketing support, build online brand awareness and increase global business development opportunities.</p>
<p>Jennifer Barham, Global Business Development &amp; Marketing Manager for Taxand said: “The Manchester based integrated digital agency won a five-way pitch by demonstrating clear expertise in the Drupal 7 content management system (CMS) in addition to a proven track record of responsive customer service and commitment to quality. We look forward to beginning our digital journey with them!”</p>
<p>We’re excited to be working with another pioneering global company. Taxand provides a professional high quality service that demands agile project management and assured digital execution. We’ve already helped them to migrate the website onto a more efficient hosting environment and look forward to adding value on forthcoming projects.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.taxand.com">www.taxand.com</a></p>
</div></div></div> <a href="/blog/category/news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News</a>Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:10:13 +0000Simon Landi506 at http://www.accessadvertising.co.uk